Ze Goggles! Zey Do Something!

April 20, 2010

Lisa Vs. The Volcano

Although I did not note it here (instead expressing my delight via twitter), Lisa successfully dodged the attentions of the volcano god. Iceland is too far north (or conversely, Spain is far too south) for the ash to be a problem, and so her flight home was unhindered. To which we all say: phew.

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Am about to go to a meeting that will help us plan for another meeting. Those are the most fun, although we're never allowed to plan for everything:

"What if the other people have all been replaced by pod people? What's our game plan then?"
"Okay, when they reveal their true alien identities, everyone run for the door. Use your laptop as a shield if you need to. Equipment is replaceable, you aren't."

This sort of thinking could be useful.

Hey, I said could be, not would be.

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Other notes of note: rejection from PodCastle (I think I've now run out of things to send them, which I'm sure they're grateful). Also page proofs from the long-delayed Inhuman story.

April 07, 2010

In Which Your Correspondent Is Filled With Indefinable Unease

I am torn between thinking "that could work" and "that is an awful idea.". I guess the major difference is that traditional reboot targets, i.e. movies and tv shows, are the products of many, many people: writers, actors, directors, editing, music, and so on. Yes, there are those media creations that are
associated with individuals *cough*Whedon*cough*, but they didn't write, direct, act every frame. And since there are so many people involved in a media production, reinterpretation seems much less disrespectful. And out of the media SF world it happens a lot as well. New productions of Shakespeare (for example) are performed every year, with various levels of success. And everyone agrees that's a good thing (if they like Shakespeare).

And yes, it's true that writers get edited. The writer learns that his or her genius plot has a hole in it the Queen Mary could sail through, sure, and they have to rewrite. And good: God bless editors and first readers and all the others who help get the words right. But generally, creating a novel is a solitary affair. It's a personal vision. So frankly, to me, taking a original novel's characters and plot and reinterpreting them as another novel seems wrong. I don't think novels are sacred unalterable works, but it does seem vaguely disrespectful.

I say all of this, of course, but I also realize it really does depend on how it's done. True, it's a good sign Piper's estate signed off on it, and I'm perfectly willing to give Scalzi the benefit of the doubt here. He's a hell of a writer. If he finds a publisher to place it with, I'll pull it off the shelf and take a look.

April 05, 2010

Not A Hard-Edged Crime Drama With Villains Who Play For Keeps, Thank Goodness

I have to stop blinking, because the next thing you know it's April. And not just April, but 25% of the way into April, which is like buying that box of Captain Crunch at the store because you suddenly really wanted to taste it again, then getting it home only to find that the box is half empty. It's just not right.

The big development is that this Thursday Lisa will be going on her trip to Barcelona, leaving me a single parent for ten eight days. Ten Eight days!*

Sob.

In passing news, got a rejection from Asimov's over the break. Poetry, not fiction, for those of you tracking such things. Which I suppose is me, really.

Let's end this on a stream-of-consciousness of recent random events: held an iPad today. Colbert could totally make salsa with it. I have a Spider-Man bobblehead on my desk, which means it'll only be mine until Ian lays eyes on it. Spider-Man nods in agreement. Paid the taxes, a task as distasteful as it was annoying, so that's all right. Am in need of a shave, a haircut, and my fingernails trimmed. Stupid personal grooming. Finally, it seems my internal monologue is as unimpressive as my exterior monologue. And on that note, good night.

* - I originally counted her departure/return days as well. So that's eight full days of her absence, plus two partials, which technically adds up to nine. Still: sob.